


Make a Wish, Take a Chance

by Homer



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Danvers Sisters, F/F, F/M, Gen, Make-A-Wish AU, Oblivious Kara Danvers, Pining Lena Luthor, Slow Burn, they have to be Professional™
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-07
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2019-10-06 08:40:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17342174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Homer/pseuds/Homer
Summary: Lena Luthor is a businesswoman who's hard to surprise, but when she receives an email from the Make-A-Wish Foundation saying that a young boy wants to meet his idol, well, she's notheartless.AKA the Make-A-Wish AU





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hey so I know I said I'd stick mostly to one shots but like... I thought of this and couldn't let it go.  
> All the procedures and whatnot for the actual Make-A-Wish Foundation are probably going to be wildly inaccurate, so go with it.
> 
> I have _no idea_ how often this is going to update, and I just finished this chapter in my college library to waste time before my next class, so bear with me.
> 
> _More tags will be added as new characters appear (they're in my head, just not actually in the work yet)_
> 
> Hit me up on Tumblr @uhb-sessed

Lena Luthor is a woman who’s hard to surprise. When her executive assistant Jess forwarded her an email from the Make-A-Wish foundation, “off-guard” is a word that would’ve aptly fit her in that moment.

                Apparently, a child wished to meet her and tour the company. His name is Oscar. About ten years old, precocious, wide-eyed, and fascinated by the wonders of science.

                And Lena is his idol.

                Usually people only want to be her or fantasize about her because of the ridiculous notion of ‘romanticizing’ serial killers. Ergo, her brother Lex. Lena had no problems about coming off as a stone-cold bitch to the media, the company board, or even her mother. But when people constantly critique your facial expressions or simply your coffee order, you learn rather quickly how to take control of your emotions.

                That’s why being this little boy’s idol was, in a word, astonishing. (To her, at least.)

                The email from the Make-A-Wish liaison was simple enough, just a note reaching out to see if she would be willing to open her company for the boy and his family. A bit of information as to how the entire process works, and what L-Corp would need to do should they choose to ‘make his wish come true.’ A PDF was attached with the steps required by both parties, and a rather thorough FAQ section.

                More information on the boy and his family were available should she choose to create his wish, though it was nothing she couldn’t dig up herself, she was sure.

               

                She was conflicted.

 

                In all honesty, there wasn’t really a specific _reason_ as to why she couldn’t allow this boy the simply courtesy of meeting her and touring her labs, nothing beyond general paranoia and (though she’d never admit it) a bit of shock.

 

/

 

                A few days passed, and Lena still hadn’t responded to the email. It hadn’t said when to respond by, so Lena was using that to her benefit. If anything was said about it, she could simply wave it off and say she was busy with other duties as CEO. Jess hadn’t brought it up, though with every passing day Lena could see a slight rise in intrigue in her assistant’s eyes whenever she passed her desk.

                Lena wasn’t against it by any means. She was simply… mulling it over.

                When Rodolfo from PR somehow caught wind of it, he definitely pounced.

                “Lena, this would be a great PR move. Why would it not? After the first few months of rebranding we hit a plateau. Our numbers are stuck. This would be a great way to show that L-Corp has changed we’re not who we used to be. We’re not-“

                “Lex?”

                “I, um,” he clears his throat. “That’s one way to put it. Showing that we reach out to children and support future STEM education is a great foot in the door of good PR. This isn’t the same as giving a large donation and having our name slapped on the side of a hospital wing, though that isn’t bad either. This, Lena, _this_ is an unsanctioned opportunity knocking at our door. From my knowledge, we have no affiliations with anything at Make-A-Wish. No donations, no direct L-Corp customers or parented companies. Why have you been waiting to act on this?”

                A glare.

                “…if I may ask, that is.”

                Lena sighs and stands, making her way around to the front of her desk to lean against, facing a standing, impassioned Rodolfo.

                She starts quietly. “I’ve never been anyone’s idol before, Rodolfo. I’ve been an associated symbol to hatred, war, murder. The last time I saw myself in a positive light in the media was when I testified against my brother. And ‘positive’ is a matter of opinion.” A deep breath. “I don’t know how to be an idol. And, to be completely honest, everyone I’ve ever looked up to has let me down. This boy… I don’t want to fail him.”

                A beat passed.

                Two.

                Three.

                “Lena, I-“

                “Don’t. Please. I know we’ve known each other for a while now, but I need to think. I didn’t mean to unload on you, you can just… forget all that.”

                Rodolfo had taken a step forward in that time, arm partially raised – but lowered it and backed down at Lena’s simple request.

                “Yeah, sure. Sure. If you want to forward me that email, that’d be great. If you could also carbon-copy me in on those emails that would work too, you could keep me in the loop easier that way. I could just set everything up when you make your final decision.”

                “Absolutely. Thanks for following up as well, Rodolfo.”

                “Anytime.”

 

/

 

                It was another two days before Lena decided to respond to the email. At this point the email had sat there, unresponded to, for about a week. Lena’s response was drafted at 2am, deleted at 2:10am, rewritten at 2:23am, stared at for thirty minutes, and then finally: sent.

                _Why am I so nervous about this?_   She got out of bed, walked into her apartment’s living room and flicked on a lamp; turning on Netflix to whatever movie they recommended next, sat and pulled up her laptop.

                If anything relaxed Lena in the middle of the night, it was dicking around on beta software. A current side hobby of hers was creating better 3D printers, so she’d often create models and throw them in a printer the next morning. Throughout the workday she’d stop into the lab and check on its progress (partially an excuse to stop doing paperwork for a moment), the part often completed by whatever time she managed to finally leave her office. Therefore, she was the secret owner of quite a few to-scale fictional spaceships and iconic figurines.

                The soft yellow light behind her, the murmuring of the television, and the softness of her pajamas had her feeling cozy. But with the warmth of he laptop seeping through the blanket, hair up in a messy bun, thick-framed glasses balanced cock-eyed on her nose, Lena felt almost relaxed. Not quite, never fully - but close.

 

/

 

                The next thing Lena knew, it was late in the morning. She’d fallen asleep. _Fuck._ She had meetings today, a conference call with Malaysia, and a lunch meeting with a possible new board candidate.

                Wiping the sand out of her eyes, she wandered back to her bedroom to find her phone. She had a missed call from Jess, along with three text messages. One from her mother, which was promptly deleted, the other two from Jess.

                **Jess:** Considering you didn’t beat me here this morning, I’m taking the liberty to push back your meetings two hours. _8:01am_

                **Jess:** I hope you’re feeling alright – I know it’s been a stressful week for you. If I don’t hear from you by eleven, I’ll just reschedule everything. _9:17am_

                Her eyes flicked to the corner of her phone screen. 11:03am. _Great._ She tosses the phone onto her unkempt bed. Jess was nothing if not efficient. Everything was probably rescheduled at this point, so it wasn’t worth calling her back. If anyone deserved a slow day for once, again, Jess deserved it.

                It’s not like Lena ever _intends_ for her schedule to be so… chaotic. When you’re in a position of power, people tend to make demands. Demands which require “immediate” attention. “Immediate” being that they’re impatient corporate bastards who think their power outweighs her own.

                Oh, how wrong they are.

/

                After a shower, Lena finds her phone once again and shoots a text off to Jess, at least to rid her of any possible anxiety that an assassination attempt might’ve been successful for once.

                She quickly receives a thumbs-up emoji in response.

/

                Lena gave in to her hunger pangs around four, having shucked off her couch’s blanket and saving her open document twice just to be sure.

                She popped a container of leftovers into her microwave and started to brew another pot of coffee. At least in the privacy of her own home she could feed her caffeine addiction without shame.

                Arm moving in an automatic way - fork to mouth, fork to mouth - she absentmindedly scrolled through the remaining unread emails she received so far today. A response from Make-A-Wish had appeared.

                _Ms. Luthor,_

_We’re so glad that you’re willing to make Oscar’s wish come true! Once we figure out all the details, we’ll inform him and his family about the opportunity._

_Starting out with a few dates, Oscar’s parents said that a weekend would be preferred, if possible. Their best dates would be the last two weekends in February through the first two weekends of March. It would only be him and his parents._

_The only thing you need to worry about is where you’re willing to take them (and a Make-A-Wish guide) on the tour! We handle all their other needs such as food, spending money, lodging and transportation, etc. We’ll send a liaison ahead of time to check out your facilities, and make sure that they’re sensible and safe for any and all heath issues the child may have._

_We’re excited that you’re willing to join Oscar in part of his journey._

_Kara Danvers, Wish Coordinator_ 😊


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow!!! Over 1000 hits on my first chapter alone?!?!? _Thank you so much!!!_
> 
> It's been about a week (really?) and here's chapter two!  
> (Reminder, don't expect my updates to be this regular lol, this is just the beginning of the semester so I have some spare time. Go engineering!)
> 
> Hmu on Tumblr @uhb-sessed!

“How on earth was this allowed to get this far without being approved?”

                “Well, you see - I got the request, so I reached out. That’s proper procedure.”

                “Surely you thought _something_ about a little boy wanting to meet the sister of a mass murderer and practically a war criminal.”

                “No? I didn’t. And I thought it was already approved? All wish emails that come to me are supposed to be. But Lena Luthor had _absolutely nothing_ to do with her brother’s actions and she should be treated that way. She’s her own unique individual minus the fact that they share the same last name.”

                Cally narrows her eyes. She takes a moment to flip closed Oscar’s wish file, folds her hands on top of it, and turns back to face Kara. “In this job – with these kids – we can’t allow our personal feelings to get in the way of professionalism. Now, I don’t know, nor do I care about your feelings about this woman, but please; do not allow your feelings to bias your job. As you’ve just shown just how passionate you are about letting Ms. Luthor take part of Oscar’s wish, are you capable of staying impersonal throughout planning and executing it?”

                “So you’ll let her be a part of this?”

                “You didn’t answer my question.”

                “I will be professional throughout completing Oscar’s wish.”

                “Excellent. Now, before we allow Mr. Alpena’s family to meet Ms. Luthor and tour her facilities, we need to do some background checks.”

                “We always do that, Ms. Henderson.”

                “Yes, I’m aware of that. They haven’t been completed. Somehow Oscar’s wish completely zipped through procedure and made its way to you.” Cally shrugs. “Maybe it’s meant to be. Either way, someone needs to complete a thorough background check; considering her… type? of famous person, we should be extra careful.”

                Kara moves to interject, only to be silenced by a glare.

                “Kara, I’m well aware of your feelings on this. But when a child wants to meet a celebrity - rather than just go to, say, Disneyworld - we want that person to be _good_ for them. The media skews how we see celebrities of all types – you have journalist friends correct? James Olsen? They scandalize or adore, disown or celebrate…” She shrugs. “We want them to have a good experience. That’s why we have to vet them.”

                “I understand.”

                “I don’t say this to scare you or to think that I see Ms. Luthor as scum of the earth. I know you’re new to this position, and the majority of the kids you’ve coordinated for have just wanted trips to Disney, or like the one girl who wanted to go to Amsterdam like... what was it? The Cracks in Our Sky? With people, it’s different. Some people are constantly requested, like NASCAR drivers or actors, so we know from experience how they interact with kids. When a person is requested for the first time, we need to get to know them. Create a relationship; see what they’re like. Lord knows how many we’ve had requested that were simply unsuitable.”

                They both laugh awkwardly.

                “So… what does that mean for me?”

                Cally lifts her folder towards Kara. “Sounds like someone’s heading to National City next week.”

/

                “Okay, wait. So why are you having to go to National City again?” Alex asks, spoon digging into a pint of cookie dough ice cream.

                “One of my kids requested to meet someone that we haven’t looked into before, so I get to go meet them and sorta… feel ‘em out? Make sure that they’re actually a good candidate.”

                “So work’s paying for this I assume?”

                “Yeah, Kylar’s gonna put the request in the system for me for either reimbursement or to get me a card to charge while I’m over there.”

                “Who’s in National City that this kid wants to meet, anyway? I mean, National City is basically like the industrial capital of the west coast. Like the ‘Detroit of California,’ I guess.”

                Kara ducks her head, eyes now purposefully gazing into her own pint of ice cream.

                “Who is it, Kara?”

                “…you wouldn’t like who it is?”

                “Just tell me.”

                More avoidance.

                “Kara.”

                A mumble.

                “I couldn’t understand that at all. Try again.”

                “…Lena Luthor.”

                “…Luthor. Lena Luthor.”

                Kara “mhmm”s and nods her head.

                “…interesting,” Alex hums.

                “What?” Kara’s head quickly raises to look her sister in the eye again.

                “I’m not really supposed to tell you this, but we just finished a lengthy investigation into L-Corp, and it’s good. Off scot-free. Like, 90% of the companies we look into are always hiding something. They weren’t.”

                A tentative smile reaches Kara’s lips. “That’s for the company though. Not the CEO.”

                Alex tilts her head in thought. “Hmm, that’s fair. But from the companies I’ve had a hand in investigating before, if the company’s dirty, the CEO’s at least half as dirty. If not more. The clean ones are the good ones.”

                “You’re not worried about it? At all? Not even after what he did to Clark?”

                “Of course I’m worried. I’ll always worry about you, no matter what. When Lex went off the rails, Lena was only seventeen and in college across the country. Old files and even magazines had noticed that over the years leading up to his destabilization, Lex and Lena weren’t photographed together as often - even at their home in Metropolis. If you’re really curious, I could probably look up the file on her if you wanted…”

                “No! Don’t do that. That’s probably illegal for you, isn’t it?”

                Alex winks.

                “Oh, god, don’t start that now.”

                “I won’t if you finally start this crappy movie.”

                “It’s not crappy! Hilary Duff is an _icon_!”

/

                It was after eleven when their movie finished and Alex left her sister’s apartment. Surprisingly, Kara didn’t feel that tired – her brain was whirling with thoughts of how to get to know the elusive CEO. _Would she like jokes? Wait, no. She’s a CEO of a tech company. She’s probably a giant nerd. Oh! I could ask Winn about some techy stuff! I’d have to ask him for some of the tech and lab safety guideline checklist PDFs anyway…_

                Winn had been a wish coordinator for about two months before everyone (including him) decided he’d be better off as the new head of their IT department. (Joe, their previous IT head, had decided to retire early and travel the world with his wife. [They’re currently on Jeju]) Winn helped train the tech safety and regulation courses.

                Without anything to write her ideas down on, Kara rolled over to the other side of her bead where here phone was charging, deciding to look up what the CEO looked like.

                A quick google search yielded a variety of results.

                Apparently she was very avoidant of paparazzi, most images of her coming up as tabloid article fronts with the woman shielding herself with bold sunglasses and a very strong case of resting bitch face.

                _I hope that’s not a hint to her personality_.

                A bit more digging, scrolling, and search refining; she managed to find the most recent photo she could – this one was taken about a year ago.

                It was at a gala, after the launch of rebranding LuthorCorp to L-Corp. Lena stood next to a podium wearing a dress that Kara was _sure_ would cost her a year’s worth of rent. Her eyes were wide and vibrantly green, head tilted back in the beginning stages of laughter. A legitimate smile was on her face.  

                “ _Wow_ …” Kara whispered to herself. She was beautiful.

                She decided to screenshot the photo since it took so long to find (and definitely _not_ so she could look at it again later.)

/

                Kara sent out a few emails to more experienced co-workers for advice. “ _How do I befriend her?? How deep are the safety checks again? I don’t perform the background check, right? Someone else does that???_ ”

                She didn’t expect any answers. After all, it was nearing one in the morning.

                What she didn’t expect was falling asleep with a shade of green haunting her thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shout-out to anyone who knows what TV show Cally's from!! (I'm rewatching it right now, haha [Also I didn't know she's gay irl??? Surprise, surprise {her wiki page, ohmygod. she was in Smallville twice. WHAT!? And she married Chloe!!! [ _AND she was in The L Word???_ ] I didn't know any of this. welp, now you're all educated]}])
> 
> PS: I will defend 2000s era Hilary Duff movies with my entire being. Fight me


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey all! It's been awhile, huh? School's been busy, and the polar vortex whacked me good (though the free[zing] week off of college was more than welcome, haha).
> 
> Five points to anyone who guesses A) The actress I'm referencing, and B) The movie I'm referencing!!  
> (she's one of my favorite actresses. I love her so much)
> 
> As always, HMU on Tumblr @uhb-sessed!

                _Ms. Luthor,_

_Once again, thank you so very much for being willing to coordinate with us!_

_As stated in a previous email, we need to send one of our liaisons out to meet with you and touch base – we have a few procedures we go through before we commit to completing any wish._

_We’ll need your personal information to run a standard background check on you (general procedure for any new individual requested [to be met by a child] that hasn’t worked with us before). The liaison we send is well-trained on various safety regulations and would need access to the facilities you’re willing to let Oscar and his family tour. We pride ourselves on keeping all wishes safe and appropriate for the child – be it through safety or specific heath issues the child has that need to be taken into consideration._

_We’ve planned a tentative date for sending someone out next week, we’ll confirm final dates. If next week doesn’t work for you, please let us know as soon as possible. We can send someone out at any time. Depending on the amount of facilities that need to be inspected, you can expect them to stay anywhere between three and seven days. We also take that time to try and get to know you. You’re new to us, and us to you – plus Oscar to the both of us! Creating a relationship between one of our liaisons and yourself lets the execution of the wish flow smoothly._

_Best,_

_Cally Henderson, Wish Executive_

/

                Lena’s hand was in the part cleaner, fishing out some parts the printed to calibrate the settings she made on one of L-Corp’s 3D printers. They turned out fine enough; she placed them on a nearby rack to let dry.

                As she was taking her gloves off, her phone dinged. _That’s convenient_. It was an email from Make-A-Wish.

                Scanning its contents quickly, she thought of something. “Computer?” _Chime._ “Record a note.”

                “What would you like to record, Lena?” a robotic voice answered.

                “Ask about Oscar’s interests.”

                “Note confirmed. Anything else?”

                “Continue as sub-note.” _Chime_. “3D print Oscar a model of his choosing, period. Remind Wish Coordinator that depending on the size of the model it could take up two to five days for printing, comma, cleaning, comma, and drying, period.”

                “Confirmed. Anything else?”

                “No, thank you.”

                “You are welcome.” _Beep_.

 

                _God, I love that computer._

 

                Of all of Lex’s many inventions, the interactive computer interface was probably her favorite. Not being a war machine was just a bonus. Though, knowing Lex, it was probably going to end up as some sort of predictive combat AI – though placing it as an AI in another context could prove useful…

                “Computer? Another note.” _Chime._

                “AI interface for searching medical symptom databases, comma, with comparative capability between patient slash family history.”

                “Confirmed. Anything else?”

                “No.”

                “Goodbye.” _Beep_.

                The computer itself was only programmed for a select few rooms, labs A, B, and her office. She’d need to hack into the interface if she decided to expand it across all L-Corp computers. _I should install it in my home office._ Who said convenience didn’t equate to efficiency?

                _Buzz_. “Miss Luthor? The intercom _._ “Mr. Lord is here early for his appointment.”

                Lena steps over to hold down the talk button on the wall intercom. “Thank you, Jess. Give me a few minutes. Tell him to show up as expected next time if he doesn’t wish to wait.”

                “Absolutely, Miss Luthor.”

/

                “Nope,” _toss_. “Nope,” _toss_. “Definitely not,” _toss_.

                “Kara? What- _mmpfh_!”

                “Alex? Oh my god, I’m sorry! I’m just trying to go through what to take with me to National City and I don’t have anything good???”

                “So you thought to throw a shirt in my face? Is that it?” She throws the shirt back towards her sister.

                “No, I- I’m sorry. You can see I’ve been at this for a while,” Kara says, gesturing at the mound of clothes on her bed. “It’s so much warmer there than here in Metropolis – I mean, pfft, yeah it’s just January, but in California that means it’s like, what? Forty degrees? Fifty? I should probably check…”

                “Kara, chill out. Or did you forget it’s sisters night?”

                “OH MY GOD I FORGOT!! I’m sorry Alex…”

                Alex laughs a little. “It’s okay, Kar. I know this trip has been on your mind a lot and I guess kinda, everywhere…” she starts, gesturing to the mess that is her sister’s bedroom. “Do you want help cleaning it up?”

                “Nah, we can go do sister night stuff instead if you want. I can deal with this later.”

                “And when you inevitably crash on the couch and want to go to bed?”

                Kara shrugs. “I’ll just shove all this on the floor and deal with it tomorrow!” They laugh.

                “Come on, I saw the coolest new movie come out on Netflix recently. It almost seems like a dark version of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy? But also with like, an apocalyptic vibe.”

                “I thought Hitchhikers was already kinda apocalyptic?”

                “Yeah maybe, but it’s _comedic_. You start the popcorn, I’ll grab the drinks?”

                “Deal.”

/

                _Mrs. Henderson,_

_I’ve taken the liberty of emailing you the personal documents you’ve requested through an encrypted address I own. Once you get the email, respond to me the first letters of the first, third, and fifth sentences and I’ll send you the decryption code to get the information off the email (it’s in there, don’t worry)._

_As far as health and safety regulations go, we’re currently rated the highest in our specific tech field. We have specialized air filters and key safety factors in every laboratory and research department. Once your liaison is here, I’ll have my general safety manager tour the departments with them and answer any and all questions they may have._

_Lena Luthor_

_CEO, L-Corp_

/

                They sat there in silence.

                “That’s not how it ends… right?”

                “I don’t know Alex, you’re the one who wanted to watch it,” Kara starts, before mumbling “and I think I know why, too…”

                “What?”

                “Nothing.”

                Alex throws some popcorn in her face.

                “C’mon, Kar. What’d you say?”

                “You just wanted to watch it cause _she’s_ in it.”

                “Who?”

                “Katee.”

                “Kara, oh my god. For the _last time_ -“

                “Shut up, I like her too.”

                “What?”

                “I never said I didn’t,” Kara laughs.

                “You’re insufferable.”

                Kara sticks her tongue out in retaliation. “I mean as soon as you started watching Longmire I knew who your favorite was right off. I mean, she’s you.”

                “She is _not_ me. I don’t live in the west and I’m _definitely_ not some cowgirl.”

                “She’s not even a cowgirl!!! She’s a _rootin’ tootin’ glock shootin’_ policewoman.”

                “’Rootin’ tootin?’ Oh my god,” Alex cackles while Kara full-out laughs. “I can’t believe I’m related to you.”

                “That’s a matter of opinion, technically,” Kara mutters.

                “I said what I said,” Alex shrugs, reaching over to drag her sister’s giggling shoulders down into her lap. The two sisters made eye contact. “I do love you, you goober.”

                Kara puffs some air to blow her bangs out of her vision. “Love you too, Al.”

/

                _One week._

                One week until the Make-A-Wish liaison would be here, in L-Corp's most private labs, viewing their prototypes and tentative breakthrough technology. Lena _knew_ she could change her mind as to what they were allowed to view, but then again, would someone from the Make-A-Wish foundation _really_ sell her out? They generally work with _children_. _There’s_ no way _my mother could weasel one of her lackeys into that type of corporation, right? That would be insane. It would also mean she coerced a sick ten-year-old boy into wasting his one wish..._

                L-Corp secrets would be safe. _Though, maybe I should ban taking photos, just to be sure._

                One week.

                She could do that.

                This isn’t even the real deal. That’s still a month away.

                If Lena Luthor can face down a boardroom of cocky, sexist business men no problem; why is the thought of associating with a boy and his family so daunting?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment, prompt, or critique! I love hearing your thoughts, especially since I generally think my writing could always use improvements. (No beta for the win)


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot second. So here's like 2.3k words to make up for lost time 😂
> 
> As always, HMU on Tumblr @Uhb-sessed!

                “Just because you love flying doesn’t mean nothing bad will happen.”

                “I know, Alex.”

                “Did you buy travel insurance? It’s a cross-country flight.”

                “Yes, Alex.”

                “Are you taking anything for jetlag? I know how you get cranky when your sleep schedule gets messed up.”

                “Alex, I’ll be fine. I’ll wake with the sun like normal… hopefully. It’s the return trip that’ll kill me. Earlier mornings here than in National City… ew. Oh, wait! Stop! Alex, this is my gate!”

 

                The sisters scoured the pull-off area for somewhere to park and let Kara unload her luggage. Alex spotted an opening a bit past the airport entrance.

                Kara popped out as soon as the car stopped moving, opening the trunk. By the time her sister made it around the car, she already had everything unloaded and a bag slung across her chest. She had a wide grin on her face, partly from excitement, partly to hide her nervousness. A glance at her sister’s face revealed that her smile wasn’t fooling either of them.

                Alex placed a hand on her sister’s shoulder. “Kar, it’s going to be _fine_. You’ll do everything you need to do, and if all else fails you have people at work you can fall back on, right?”

                “Right.”

                “So, you have nothing to worry about. You literally printed out _all_ the guidelines. You have a _two-inch binder_ of instructions. The only thing you have to worry about is my bad flying luck rubbing off on you.”

                “It wasn’t your fault they left your luggage in Russia!”

                “And it wasn’t my fault the plane got delayed,” Alex laughs. “But hey, you need to go,” she starts, stepping closer to hug her sister. “I’ll see you soon, alright? Call me when you get to your hotel.”

                Kara hugs her sister back tightly. “I will. I love you.”

                “Love you too. Now go! You don’t want to get stuck in security, believe me, it sucks,” Alex whines, moving back to break the hug.

                Kara laughs. “Okay! Okay, I’ll go.”

                “You better! We’re almost out of the five minutes of parking they let us have. Now scoot before someone honks at us again!”

                “The first honk was a goose! It doesn’t count!”

                Alex sticks her tongue out.

                “Real mature, Alex!”

                Alex laughs and waves before ducking back into the driver’s seat.

                Kara waves back and watches her sister merge into the slow airport traffic.

                A glance at her watch gave her the time: about 7:30am. A little less than two hours for her to check her bags, get through security, and find her gate. Her flight was four hours long up to the two hour connecting flight. She had a two hour gap between them. That should be more than enough.

/

                Tomorrow is the day.

                _Wait_. Lena looks over at the closest clock in the laboratory. 3:34am. _Shoot_.

                Today.

                Today is the day.

                The Make-A-Wish liaison arrives late this afternoon and Lena was supposed to have a meeting with them around seven o’clock tonight. _I should probably go to bed…_

\---

                Being a workaholic has its perks, no doubt, but when a drawback involves getting less than three hours of sleep? The pros and cons are debatable. Though when both sides of your brain debate one over the other, the ultimate decision lies with the judge. And when the judge is both sides of the same brain? Well, the winner is never really clear. _Do I always think this heavy at 6am? God, I need a life._

Lena blinked, sitting up in bed, thumb and forefinger rubbing grit out of the corners of her eyes. Her alarm switched from blaring beeps to a soft cacophony of an early morning talk show.

                As she stepped out of bed, something said caught her interest.

                “Jake, we all know that the rivalry between Lord Tech and L-Corp is nearing an all-time high. I mean, when was the last time you saw a brand new product launch that didn’t have an immediate competitor? The Techphone? Boom, one week later there was the L-Phone. Fast-charge battery packs? L-Corp put one out the day after Lord Tech decided to go direct to consumer retail without an unveiling. This seems almost too convenient to me.”

                A step into her kitchen, pouring a cup of iced coffee from her fridge.

                “You’re thinking a mole is in one of these companies, Casey?”

                A sip.

                “One of these companies? It’s obvious to me who has it. Lord Technologies. But that just launches a new question. Was the mole planted? We know that Lex Luthor was never above corporate espionage. Who says Lena Luthor is any different?”

                Lena paused, cup still at her lips.

                Her apartment speakers were silent for what seemed to be too long of a pause, though the rational side of her knew that it shouldn’t have taken more than three seconds.

                “Well, have you seen what this Luthor does for the National City community? She does way more than her brother ever did for the Metropolis area.”

                “That doesn’t mean shit!” Casey exclaimed. “Lionel Luthor – he had an affair. Corporate embezzlement. Managed to avoid company taxes _way_ before Amazon even had a clue about doing it. Lex Luthor – playboy. Fanatic. Power hungry. Spitting image of a grand CEO as a company front, but on the side created and sold weapons to countries around the world. If Kent never exposed him, who knows where we’d be now!”

                “You might want to hold back-“ Jake interrupted without avail.

                “Now, Lena Luthor! Oh ho ho! The bastard child of Lionel’s affair! She just pops in to the company and takes over like that!” a snap of fingers accompanies his exclaim. “Waltzes in and renames it? Changes it’s entire direction? How to we know it’s not a front? The entire line of Luthors is just a bunch of-“

                The livestream from her phone is interrupted by the sound of a video chat call.

                Only two people dared call her early in the morning, let alone video call her.

                Quickly making her way back to her bedroom, she grabbed her glasses off the nightstand and swiped her finger across the screen to accept the call.

                “Aunt Lena!”

                “Good morning, Ruby.”

                “Morning for you maybe,” she laughs. “It’s one here. Anyway, mom asked me to call you to ask if you still have plans for coming to hang out with us next month? She said something about you might have forgotten and that I would be the better choice to remind you.”

                “Ruby!” Sam calls offscreen.

                “What?”

                “I told you not to say that!”

                Ruby laughs while Lena tries and fails to keep a straight face.

                “Honestly, Rubes, you had really good timing with that phone call. The talk show on my phone this morning was starting to get nasty.”

                “Lena! Were you listening to the JC Tech Update again?” Sam calls out.

                Lena clicks her tongue and looks away from the screen, much to Ruby’s amusement.

                “Lena, just because you can’t see me right now doesn’t mean I can’t see you! I’ve told you for _months_ to stop listening to that trash.”

                “They keep me updated, Sam. And if a little bit of Luthor-bashing is involved, well, so be it.”

                “What were they saying about you Aunt Lena?” Ruby asks.

                Lena shrugs, combing a hand through her messy morning hair. “The usual. I’m a terrible person solely because I exist, my company is ripping off Lord Tech, I’m as heartless and cold as Elsa. Jake tried to give me a chance, but apparently Casey has such hatred for the Luthors it didn’t even do anything.”

                “Ouch.”

                “Ouch is right,” Sam says, appearing over her daughter’s shoulder.

                “They started hitting a good point though,” Lena started, only to be interrupted by Sam.

                “About the Luthors? Honestly, Lena stop being so self-deprecating! You’re so much better than-“

                “Sam.”

                “-and who cares what your family did? You’re not them, right Ruby?”

                “Uhh, mom?”

                “Lena I swear to god that if you start getting in a funk again I’ll-“

                “Sam!” Lena shouts as Ruby yells “Mom!”

                “What?”

                “That wasn’t my point.”

                Ruby sneaks a glance at her mom and covers a snicker with her hand.

                “My _point_ ,” Lena continues, “was that they compared L-Corp with Lord Tech and they actually made a decent connection – something I’ll need to look into.”

                “And that would be what?” Sam starts, sitting down next to her daughter and taking the phone from her hands.

                “That L-Corp seems to be launching competing tech either immediately or soon after Lord launches his new gadgets. That seems highly unlikely, statistically speaking.”

                Sam makes a face. “So… what? You think you’ve got a mole?”

                “Me? No. I haven’t sent anyone to commit corporate espionage for me. You know me Sam, all our ideas come from within the company.”

                “Haven’t I met Maxwell Lord?”

                “Maybe? You may have at some event thrown in the past. Egotistical sum of a man. I wouldn’t be surprised if he paid someone to make me look bad, all things considered.”

                “Isn’t that cheating?” Ruby interjects.

                “If he gets caught, it’ll make him look bad. And I’m definitely going to get someone looking into this – even if it’s just pure paranoia,” Lena shrugs. “After all, a routine check or two for espionage can’t hurt… well, I hope it doesn’t.”

                “Well to get off this lovely topic, Lena, are you going to be able to visit us next month?”

                “I should be? At the moment it depends on what I learn this evening.”

                “Ooh, what’s that about? Something you haven’t told me?” Sam teases.

                Lena rolls her eyes and lets a sarcastic grin don her features. “Oh yes, my boyfriend said he’d propose tonight, and I just _have_ to wait and see if our honeymoon is next month.”

                Ruby gasped while Sam barked out in laughter.

                “Oh my god, Lena.” Sam reaches to wipe the corners of her eyes. “But really, what’s the big thing tonight?”

                “Okay. Don’t laugh.”

                “We promise to try our hardest not to laugh,” Ruby says, crossing her heart as emphasis.

                “So, a few weeks ago I got an email. From Make-A-Wish.”

                “Okay…”

                “A boy, Oscar, wants to meet me. Apparently I’m his idol…? Tonight is an initial meeting with a Make-A-Wish liaison who will, basically, be auditing the areas where I’ll allow his family to tour the labs and whatnot for Oscar’s safety and health concerns. After a week or so and everything’s deemed safe, he and his family will be coming sometime between mid-February to mid-March.”

                Momentary silence.

                Lena tensed.

                “Aunt Lena that’s so cool! I didn’t know you could do that with Make-A-Wish! Why would we laugh at this? This is epic! This kid must be a super nerd. Like, _I_ know you are, but _he_ doesn’t. He has no idea what he’s getting into here.”

                Sam laughs loudly and hugs her daughter, Lena hangs her head for a moment to wipe small tears from her eyes.

                “I think Ruby said it best, Lena. But don’t worry too much. They have someone with you the entire time, right? You’ll start hammering out the details tonight. I know how much you hate unknowns.”

                “Mathematical unknowns are solvable. Social unknowns are inevitable.”

                “Are you always this deep this early in the morning?”

                Lena flops dramatically down onto her bed. “A soul knows not what it wants, just what it is.”

                “I’ll be taking that as a yes.”

                “Fair enough.”

                “Alright Rubes, I think we should let Lena actually wake up now and turn on her CEO persona. We’ll talk to you later, Lena!”

                “Bye Sam! Bye Ruby!”

                “Bye Aunt Lena!”

                The call disconnected with a beep.

/

                _Oh no, oh no oh no_ please _no_.

                Kara ran up to the gate, scanning the flights. _National City: 1:25pm_

_I_ told _the flight attendant I had to get off the plane when we landed!_

                Kara’s first flight ended up getting delayed because of an unpredicted storm. So delayed in fact, that when that plane finally landed in the connecting airport in Central City, she had to run through the airport from her gate, gate 12, all the way to gate 68 for her flight to National City.

                She was out of breath, coughing, and _ticked_ that her flight was gone.

                “Stupid Alex flying luck,” she mumbled to herself, dragging a hand over her face.

                “Excuse me, are you Miss Danvers?” a voice called.

                Kara whipped her head up. “Yes! Yes, that’s me.”

                “We held the plane for you! Here, just let me re-open the gate for you.”

                “Oh thank goodness. Thank you so much!” she called back to the gentleman as she ran up the boarding bridge.

                “Have a good flight!”

                “Thanks again!”

/

                Fifteen minutes.

                Fifteen minutes until seven o’clock.

                Fifteen minutes until her meeting with the Make-A-Wish liaison.

                _Why am I so nervous? This is just a meeting. Pretend it actually_ is _an auditor. I have the final say in what is and isn’t gone over. I hold all the power here_.

 

                Ten minutes.

                _What if I’m not who they expect me to be?_

                Five minutes.

_Well that’s just bullshit. Everyone expects me to be ruthless._

                Four minutes.

_But this is for a_ kid.

                Three minutes.

_They must have high expectations of me if being the “cold, ruthless Luthor” wasn’t enough to scare them off._

                Two minutes.

_Oh, god what have I done._

                One minute.

_Too late._

               

                Zero minutes.

 

                One minute late.

_Did they realize their mistake?_

                Two minutes late.

_Maybe Oscar changed his mind._

                Three minutes late.

_Well, that’s one less person for me to let down-_

“Miss Luthor?” Jess’ voice calls over the intercom. “Security says there’s a woman downstairs? From Make-A-Wish?”

                “Send her up, please.”

                “Are you sure? Security says she’s in quite a state…”

                “I’m sure.”

               

                Lena tapped a pen on her desk out of sheer nervousness.

                A faint _ding_ could be heard from outside her office, followed by muffled voices at Jess’ reception desk.

                A subtle swooshing of her office door.

                Lena sets the pen back onto her desk.

                “Kara Danvers from Make-A-Wish, here to see you, Miss Luthor.”

 

               

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dun dun dunnnn!
> 
> Also: if anyone wants to hear the entirety of me being personally cursed to fly commercially let me know. These situations were taken from my own experiences, lmao
> 
> Comments/critiques/ideas welcome!! They inspire me to keep writing! (also oneshots are easier for me to do than trying to commit to a multichap like this 🤷)


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hot second, my bad
> 
> The semester ended and my second job kicked into high gear, now I'm leaving for my cousin's wedding tomorrow (yeehaw, Indiana!) and then I'll be at a three-day work event the day after I get back. 
> 
> Anyway, I haven't forgotten about this fic!! This chapter's a big chunk (forgive me for being gone for so long) and it's about 2k. So I hope you enjoy the first meeting between these two dorks
> 
> As always, hmu on Tumblr @uhb-sessed

                “Miss Luthor. I’m so _so_ sorry for being late. There was this whole thing with a terrible storm over Metropolis and by the time I landed in Central City I almost missed my flight and-“

                Jess gently closed the door behind the bumbling and disheveled liaison, silently shooting her boss a confused but concerned look.

                “-thankfully they delayed my flight? I mean, like, _wow_. I knew my sister’s flying luck was bad but I didn’t know it would rub off on me _this_ much-“

                “Miss Danvers,” Lena started.

                “Like it’s never her fault that they double book her seats or leave her luggage in Russia, right?”

                “Excuse me a moment. Russia?” Lena was completely bewildered.

                Kara seemed to remember herself in that moment, eyes widening, hand moving to cover her mouth.

                “Oh my god. God, I - I’m so sorry. It’s, ah… it’s been a long day.” A nervous hand swept through damp blonde hair.

                “I can see that.” From where Lena sat behind her desk, she did a quick survey of the woman in front of her. Her face was very pretty, glasses slightly askew. Her tan wool sweater was damp _. Is it dripping?_ Her pants were sensible for travel yet work appropriate. Flecks of dirt and mud seemed to have stained around the ankles. Lena must have taken too long in looking over the girl when she realized the room was silent.

                A small squelch was heard as the Danvers woman shifted her weight from one foot to another.

                Lena couldn’t help but wince.

                A small moment of silence fell between the two women. Lena sat, seemingly content in taking in the woman in front of her. Kara was looking at anything to avoid eye contact, folding her arms over her chest and attempting to suppress a small shudder.

                She should say _something_. After all, this was supposed to be a proactive meeting.

                “Have you eaten?” _Not what I meant to say, but okay then._

                “What?”

                “From your current, ah, _state_ ,” Lena gestures vaguely, “I’m assuming you tried to get here as fast as you could from the airport – you probably didn’t have a chance to eat. Are you hungry?”

                _Squish_. Kara shifted her weight again.

                “I uh, yeah, actually.” A hand flew up to fidget with her glasses.

                Lena leaned over slightly to open a lower desk drawer, placing a spread of laminated paper on the top of her desk. “Pick your poison. Though, I must say, I’m rather biased towards Park’s Korean over off Kingsley Street.”

                Kara made her way over, cringing at each wet step on what must be expensive carpet. But she was hungry; seeing photos of food on the array of menus in front of her almost made her forget her current state of soaked.

                “…Park’s does look good… it’s kind of expensive though, isn’t it?”

                “Nonsense. Order whatever you wish. We’ll just call this a dinner meeting.”

                “Are you sure?”

                “A fifteen-dollar stir-fry will most definitely not break my company. Adding “mandatory” caviar to the board of director galas? Now _that’s_ expensive.”

                Kara cracked a small smile, continuing to look at a menu. “Do they have potstickers?”

                “I believe so?” Lena gently took the menu from Kara’s hands, running a finger down the selections. “Ah! Here it is.”

                “Potstickers are my favorite.”

                “One order of potstickers, alright. Anything else?”

                Kara hesitated. “I don’t honestly know very much about Korean food. Pick something you think I’ll like, as long as there’s noodles? Oh, and a water? Not like I don’t already have enough,” she jokes, shrugging and motioning to her still somewhat dripping attire, cringing at the amount of water still falling from her clothes.

                Lena nodded her approval and scanned the menu for herself.

\---

                Kara decided to take some time to look around the office, maybe get some insights for what the woman liked. After all, they’re supposed to be working together for the next week or so. Lena started talking, which made Kara’s head turn in her direction; she was ordering their food. Then she noticed a balcony behind the woman’s desk.

                The sun was slightly below set, which seemed late in Kara’s mind. Seven at night would already be dark in northern Metropolis. It was nice to actually _see_ the sun, if she was being honest with herself.

                “Enjoying the view?”

                “More so the sun,” Kara laughs half-heartedly. “Metropolis winters love staying cloudy.”

                Lena stood and made her way over to the large window. “Would you care to sit down? Those shoes can’t be comfortable.”

                Kara glanced down at her shoes, tsking to herself. “Standing is kind of nice, actually. I’m afraid airplane seats don’t make it into my top ten furniture list. They’re probably a solid number seventy-four.”

\---

                Lena actually… liked this woman? At least so far. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Certainly not the hardass boardroom type. But also not quite “quirky blonde?” Considering this was a routine safety inspection “thing” for Make-A-Wish, she’d expected someone more in the industrial safety field.

                Not that she was complaining.

                “Well, Miss Danvers, until the food arrives, should we start?”

                “Oh!” Kara whirls around from the window, sunset illuminating her from behind. “That’s a great idea. Do you happen to remember where I put my bag when I came in?”

                “Bag?”

                “Yeah, I had a leather messenger bag with me. It had my binder in it with all the information we’d both need over the next week. I swear I brought it in… it was the one thing that the airport _didn’t_ lose. Thank god for carry-ons.”

                “You lost your luggage?” Lena was surprised.

                “Well,” Kara started, slowly roaming about the office in search of her bag. “Technically, the airline lost it. But yes, I don’t have it yet. They said they might find it tomorrow. I’m assuming something got messed up between my crunched flight between Metropolis and Central City.”

                “Flying commercial sounds horrible.”

                “It’s not terrible! Well, usually.” She shrugs. “Don’t fly with my sister. She has bad luck. But in general, I enjoy flying. I think it’s neat – especially if I can always get a window seat.”

                “Window seats make me nauseous.”

                “Really? That’s sad.”

                Lena shrugged. “No loss for me. If I wanted a window seat I’d choose to sit there. Perks of flying private.”

                “Sounds fancy.”

                “It is, unfortunately.”

                Kara cracked a smile, before her face turned thoughtful. “Do you think I left it at Jess’ desk? Maybe I’ll go ask.”

                “If you left it there, it would’ve been in here two minutes after you entered. Jess is used to delivering lost briefcases.”

                “Oh.” Kara turned around, checking around the couch one last time, muttering something to herself. She made eye contact with Lena once or twice, hesitation written on her face. “Do… do you have a printer? If I could borrow a computer I could download the documents we were going to go over tonight, and I could print them off…”

                “I believe we could make some arrangements.”

                “I’ll pay you back for ink and paper, I swear.”

                “I don’t believe that will be necessary-“

                “OH NO! Shoot, no,” the blonde interrupts. “I just remember where I left it. It was in the trunk of the taxi… the driver was all “ay missy!”” Kara starts, attempting an accent. “”Let me take your bag for ya! Can’t be comfy, looks a bit heavy! Allow me ta put it in the trunk!” and I left it there. I was in such a rush…”

                Lena was tempted to reach out and calm the blonde but held herself back.

                “… and I really liked that binder. I spent five dollars on it.” Kara’s face turned into more of a pout, plopping down on the CEO’s couch rather ungracefully. “I’m sorry about all this, I’m usually much more put together. This is so unprofessional…”

                “Things happen, I understand. Majority of what happened was out of your control. Bygones,” Lena waves off the issue, causing a small sigh of relief to come from the blonde.

               

                The two sat there on opposite sides of the couch, a stretch of silence between them.

                The liaison started to pick at her fingers, then moved to fidget with her glasses, then picking a microscopic speck of lint off her pants.

                Lena was about to speak when Jess’ voice was heard over the intercom. “Miss Luthor? Your delivery from Park’s has arrived. Would you like me to bring it in?”

                Lena stood, moving towards her desk phone to respond. “Yes, please. Thank you, Jess.”

                The door opened and Jess appeared, carrying two plastic bags with Park’s Korean logo on the sides. She placed them on the glass coffee table in front of the couch, and after a quick chat with Lena about if she needed anything else, she left the office.

                As Lena started laying out the food, she saw Kara’s face out of the corner of her eye. Her eyes had widened, quickly licking her lips. She had scooted to the edge of the couch, attempting to get a better look at the food Lena had decided to order.

                “That’s… that’s a lot of food.”

                Lena laughs. “Well, what better way to get you acquainted with Korean food then to buy a spread of the most authentic in the city?” She starts unbagging the food and opening the containers, spreading them out over the table, smartly using the plastic bags as a make-do tablecloth.

                “Now, I know what I ordered, but unfortunately I’m very bad at pronouncing the names. If you want to know which dish is which, I can point them out to you on the menu. Korean is one of the languages I never got around to mastering,” Lena finishes with a shrug, grabbing a pair of chopsticks. “Eat up.”

                Kara’s eyes went wide and started greedily scanning the food, ignoring another shiver that went through her body.

                Lena hid her smile behind another bite of bulgogi, silently glad they had decided on warm food.

/

                By the time the two women finished their meal and what was honestly not that much business talk, Jess had left, and the floor was nearly empty.

                “Tomorrow at eleven sound good?” Lena proposed.

                “Sure. That gives me a little time in the morning to find some actual clothes,” Kara jokes with a shrug.

                Lena wanted to say something. But what can you say without it sounding awkward? All in all it was an awkward situation anyhow. She can’t simply offer her money or services without making the other woman uncomfortable. Could she?

                “See you tomorrow, Lena.”

                The liaison was five steps towards the elevator before Lena intervened.

                “Kara, ah, wait.”

                “Hmm?”

                _Damn her for making sodden wool and frizzy hair look good._

                “I just wanted to offer my advice on places to shop in National City. Here,” Lena grabs one of the business cards from behind Jess’ desk. "I don’t give these out often, but this card has my cell number on it. If you need anything while you’re here, please text me.”

                Kara looked up from reading the card, eyes alight. “Thank you, Lena. I really appreciate it.”

                _Don’t be awkward now. Professionalism is key. Spine straight. Smile. Speak._

                “Not a problem at all. I’ll see you at eleven tomorrow. Hopefully your night is better than your day.”

                Kara laughs. “I hope so. Have a good night, Lena.”

                “You as well.”

 

                The elevator door closes with a ding.

 

                Lena sighs.

 

                _Fuck._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and so they meet. bwahahaaha 
> 
> I'm not sure how I feel about the somewhat bouncing POV in this chapter? Thoughts? Again, I don't have a beta to bounce stuff off of so I edit and proofread everything myself
> 
> For those of you who's semester ended, have a good summer! I'm stuck with taking a singular spring class (Machine Design) so I can get my first associate's out of the way
> 
> Also, shoutout to my friend who was on campus at the UNC Charlotte campus shooting yesterday. Stay safe out there fellow Americans. It's a dangerous time we live in


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all! I've been busy between my two jobs and my summer class (yay for machine design, lol) and finally got around to writing a new chapter. This is honestly a lot of filler and a little more of character reflection (exploration?) of Kara this round.
> 
> And just as a friendly reminder, this is my first "long" fic I've ever attempted, so some continuity errors are expected. But feel free to point them out!
> 
> As always, HMU on Tumblr @uhb-sessed!

                Kara stepped into her hotel room, more or less dry in the areas exposed to circulating air. She _had_ to get out of these clothes. Chafing is nobody's friend.

                After stripping the still somewhat damp clothes off her body, she hung them up as close to the room’s air conditioning unit as she could. _Time for a nice, hot shower_.

/

                Kara let out a tired moan as she lay on her queen-sized bed, still wrapped in a towel. She picked up her phone and decided to text her sister what all had happened, considering she really hadn’t had a chance since.

 

 **Kara:** _hey, so the flight lost my luggage and i left my binder bag in the taxi and ended up at the meeting soaking wet. but it went ok!!_  9:32PM

 

                To waste some time until her sister responded, she checked a few social media apps, before opening _Kwazy Cupcakes_ , her favorite time-wasting game. The main screen loaded as her notification dinged.

 

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _omg. How does that even happen??_  9:41PM

 **Kara:** _because it’s_ 🎶 _Delta Airlines_ 🎶 9:41PM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _lol. so wyd now? Did you get more clothes? When are you expecting your suitcase?_  9:42PM

 **Kara:** _idk when exactly, I gave the airport attendant guy my hotel information. He said probably on the next flight or so from Central C. 🤷♀️ I think he said the next one landed at like 11 and expect a few hour delay on the delivery_  9:43PM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _ouch. I’d still go buy more clothes tho_  9:43PM

 **Kara:** _Yeah, I probably will. Lena gave me her number if i wanted to ask her where i should go_ 9:43PM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _youre on a first name basis?_  9:44PM

 **Kara:** _yeah, so???_   9:45PM

 **Kara:** _we’ll be working together a lot, and it’s easier to say Lena than the mouthful that is “Miss Luthor”_ 9:45PM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _that’s only 1 extra syllable, dummy_ 9:45PM

 **Kara:** _yah, but I have a feeling that Lena would say it’s more efficient_  9:46PM

/

 **(787) 374-4750:** _Hi, Lena! It’s Kara. Hope I’m not bothering you. You said you had some recommendations for places to get clothes?_ 10:07PM

 **Lena:** _Hello, Kara. Yes, I do. Would you like me to text you the names and addresses?_ 10:16PM

 **Kara D:** _That’d be great! Though, are they even open at this time of night?_ 10:16PM

 **Lena:** _You’re out right now?_ 10:17PM

 **Kara D:** _Yeah, I mean, I’m no morning person. Plus I’m still acclimated to Metropolis time_ 🤷10:17PM

 **Lena:** _I see. Unfortunately, none of them would be open at this time of night. I could text the owners for you and have them open for you?_ 10:19PM

 **Kara D:**   _You can do that? Please don't. There’s no reason for that. I’ll just look up the local Wal-Mart and find something until my luggage supposedly gets here in the morning_ 😬 10:20PM

 **Lena:** _Well, in any case, I hope if reaches you sooner rather than later._ 10:20PM

 **Kara D:** _Me too! Anyway, have a good night, Lena! I’ll see you tomorrow_ 10:22PM

 **Lena:** _Good night, Kara. And be careful out there, nighttime in an unfamiliar city can be dangerous._ 10:23PM

 **Kara D:** _I will be! Thanks_ 😊 10:27PM

/

 **Kara:** _ALEX GUESS WHAT_ 1:24AM

 **Kara:** _YOU’LL NEVER BELIEVE IT_  1:24AM

 **Kara:** _So I just got back to the hotel from shopping for some clothes to last me until whenever delta delivers my stuff and_  1:24AM

 **Kara:** _the taxi I was in_  1:24AM

 **Kara:** _had my STUFF IN THE BACK_  1:25AM

 **Kara:** _LIKE IN THE TRUNK_  1:25AM

 **Kara:** _i hope im not waking you up I know you were busy all day but I GOT MY BINDER BACK_ 🙌👌🎆🤯😁🎆 1:25AM

/

                     Kara had been planning on using the time she saved by shopping at night (morning?) to sleep in a bit, and hopefully help adjust her body’s time clock to the west coast.

                     She thought wrong.

                     A heavy knock pounded on her door around 7am, rousing her from a deep sleep. It was her luggage delivery. The twenty-something man looked about as haggard as Kara felt at that time in the morning, but she was still nice enough to give her thanks with a smile.

                     She tried going back to bed, but it didn’t work. Instead, she grabbed her phone off the charger and decided to see of Alex ever texted her back.

 

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _how are you this lucky_ 4:48AM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _I mean, I’ve known you for how many years now and like, the most supernatural coincidences happen to you. I don’t understand_ 4:48AM

 **Alex** 😎 **:** _anyway, that’s good it worked out! And that you got your binder back that “was *sooooo* expensive, Alex”_ 😂 4:49AM

 

 **Kara:** _the delta airlines delivery guy woke me up at like, 7.30 and I basically got 4 hours of sleep. Alex help_ 😭😭😭 8:12AM

 

                     She knew it was a longshot for her sister to text back anytime soon, as she was at work. Though, if she was lucky, she’d be on her lunch break soon and poke fun at her for staying up so late. (Alex _did_ warn her about time zone differences “fucking you up,” as she so eloquently put it.) She still had a few hours before she had to go back to L-Corp, maybe she should get breakfast. And _coffee_. Definitely coffee.

/

                     The elevator dinged as it reached her floor. Well, Lena’s floor, Kara supposed. Jess smiled more full this morning than last night, which was completely understandable.

                     “Miss Luthor is ready for you, Miss Danvers. Go on in, she’s expecting you.”

 

                     “Ah, Kara. Right on time, there’s someone I’d like you to meet. This is Rodolfo Moretti. He’s the main coordinator for our PR department. He may be working more closely with us as we get closer to the actual meeting date for Oscar and his family. And this,” Lena gestures over to the woman next to Rodolfo, “is Jiye Bahk. She’s the head of Corporate Safety.”

                     Kara stepped forward and shook their hands as Lena continued speaking.

                     “Rodolfo, Jiye, this is Kara Danvers, the representative from Make-a-Wish who will be doing a few inspections in various areas over the next week. I thought it may be useful if you all had met ahead of time.”

                     “I’m sure we’ll be working rather closely together for the next week,” Jiye spoke. “I can get you the standards and policy papers we have on file for whichever areas you’ll be working in. Just get my email from Miss Luthor and we’ll just have a grand time.”

                     “Sounds great to me.”

                     “Like Lena said,” Rodolfo started, “We’ll be working more together once the actual event occurs. And please, just consider me another friendly face in the company. If you get lost or have questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

                     After a quick discussion with their boss, both Rodolfo and Jiye took their leave.

                     “I guess it’s just the two of us now, huh?”

                     “Indeed. Just the two of us.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I may or may not get to comments quickly this time around, I'm working the next few days and then I'm volunteering all weekend at the SOMI State Competitions. Plus I'm writing this note at like 12:53am and I have to by AT work at 7am tomorrow, so feel blessed by this posting. lmao
> 
> and a BIG OL' SHOUTOUT to anyone who finds/know the references (and the one easter egg) I put in this chapter, haha
> 
> (also, on the terms previously stated about continuity, remember that Kara's phone would change timezones between east and west coast, so Alex didn't really text Kara at 4am, it would've been like 7am her time [and yes, Kara mixed up that 'Metropolis time' would make her body think it's later)
> 
> EDIT 5/29/19: no one's found/commented the little easter egg I hid in the chapter, lol


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my life has been crazy so here's an update at least!!! it's kinda short, but hey, better than nothing
> 
> (info on my hectic life at the end of the chapter if you care to read)
> 
> As always, follow me in Tumblr @uhb-sessed!

                    “So, where would you like to start us off?”

                    “Well,” Kara began, moving to sit in the chair opposite Lena and her desk. “I thought it would be a great place to start by going over where and what you’ll allow Oscar to tour and/or see. Based on what the function of each place is and what they contain will help us move forward.”

                    “Certainly. Well, I do have a tentative list… The laboratories, obviously. Testing rooms two through four… perhaps number five. The AI and VR labs, along with my personal lab I suppose. Would the rooftop be permissible?”

                    Kara finished writing Lena’s unofficial list into her notebook before responding. “Rooftop? I guess? Is there anything special up there or is it just for the view? Though, I don’t guess it really matters. If your office view is this good, I can only imagine what it looks like from the roof… I’ll add it to the list.”

                    “Is this a good start for you?”

                    “Of course! Gives me a chance to somewhat tour the facilities for myself, though I do have one question.”

                    Lena raises an eyebrow.

                    “Am I allowed to take photos in these areas? Not just asking about for Oscar. Sometimes things are in like, a gray area within the policies we follow, so I like to send them to a coworker for a second opinion.”

                    “I don’t see a problem with that. Though, please refer to whoever runs the department you’re in at the time. Some areas contain vital parts of L-Corp’s success. One or two departments may give you a sticker to cover your camera, or just secure your phone in a lockbox until you’re ready to leave. Those rules apply to any employee outside of those specific departments, not just visitors.”

                    “I see. Understandable.”

 

                    The two continued to speak about the details of each area, and what Kara should expect from each department. Which led Lena into another question.

                    “Does Oscar have any mobility limitations? The information I have about him and his family doesn’t say.”

                    “Oh! That could be a concern. Oscar has an electric wheelchair. He’s fairly adept with it. He had an unfortunate response to a- hold on. It has a lot of medical terminology I’m terrible at remembering.”

                    Kara pulls her large binder back onto her lap with a muted thud, flipping through the pages until she finds what she’s looking for.

                    “Ah! Here it is. ‘Oscar was diagnosed with both acute disseminated encephalomyelitis and transverse myelitis after taking a DTaP vaccination.’ Apparently having a reaction to the vaccination is not completely unheard of, yet is very rare. Essentially, his two conditions caused some inflammation around his spinal cord and in his brain – leaving his legs paralyzed. Oscar is still hopeful that his diagnosis isn’t permanent and will one day regain use of his legs. In the meantime, it’s slowly worsened, and doctors have been giving him periodic tests to watch the rate of inflammation. If it doesn’t stop, his spinal cord may become so damaged he could become permanently paralyzed from the neck down...”

                    Lena sat still for a moment, absorbing all this new information. “I… I see.”

                    Kara sighed. “It’s kinda sad, isn’t it? It might be to us, but Oscar doesn’t seem to think so. He’s _so_ confident that he’ll get his legs back, that in the meantime, he’s sworn to walk at his high school graduation. I mean, _Lena_. This kid’s _nine_. He has _so much_ ambition. And he’s _smart_. Wicked smart. I don’t know what you were like at nine, but if you were anything like this kid, there’s no wonder he looks up to you,” she finishes, her eyes meeting Lena’s, full of sincerity.

                    “I take it you’ve met him, then?”

                    Kara sighs. “Only briefly. But he was so funny. You’ll love him when you meet him.”

                    Lena smiles softly. “I’ll take your word for it then.”

/

                    “…aaand this is testing room number three.” Ramon Cortez, one of L-Corp’s general safety managers, was giving Kara a short tour of the fifth floor, which housed a variety of testing rooms. They’d already gone through testing room two, which dealt with flying technology, like drones. Testing room three looked like… uhh…

                    “What gets tested in here?”

                    A deep sigh. “Mostly collisions. Things to drop test and such. You know the L-Phone? We’d drop it from all sorts of heights and onto a variety of materials. A 20-foot drop onto a concrete slab, a 3-foot drop into a fish tank, stuff like that. Ain’t much. For bigger projects that we assist on, we have a property outside the city for those. Can’t exactly fly a drone full-speed into a wall in this room,” he shrugged.

                    “Got it.”

/

                    As Kara was getting her tour of the locations Lena listed, Kara had decided to leave the binder of information with Lena. “Feel free to flip through it and if you have any questions I can do my best to answer them, but I’d try to get familiar with Oscar’s profile! As the kid apparently knows quote ‘a lot about you,’ I’d suggest surprising him with the same. We actually ask a lot of the kids to help fill out their profile, his is pretty sweet! And funny. Oh, Mr. Cortez is here! Gotta go, bye!”

                    Lena rubbed her temples, already tired of gazing at her monitor, mindlessly responding to emails. Kara’s bright blue and zebra-striped binder caught her eye. She could use a break…

                    She stood and walked over to the couch, grabbing the hefty binder off the coffee table. Inside was a title page with a list of contents. Tracing her finger down the page, she found Oscar’s profile – which should be at page 32. The first thing that caught her eye was Oscar’s photo. He was on a sidewalk, in a wheelchair. It looked like there was a young man behind him pushing the wheelchair… perhaps an older brother? His face was cropped out of frame. Oscar’s face was lit with a smile, eyes sparkling, pointing somewhere in front of him, as if directing the boy behind him where to go.

                    Oscar had short, dark hair – it was almost impossible to tell if it was black or brown. The same for his eyes.

                    And Lena had a soft spot for him immediately.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so let's see, I had 3 jobs throughout the summer, had a summer college class, lifeguarded 3 triathlons all around the state (like one a month), and then at the beginning of august i was in the hospital (had pancreatitis and had my gallbladder taken out. yay), then school started BACK and so i'm crazy busy with that, plus my 2 regular jobs, and this semester's theatre production rehearsal started, and i'm gonna end up being the main person for lighting next semester, so now im trying to learn all I can and - UGH. Crazy busy y'all (fyi im not an actor, i'm too stiff for that, lmao)
> 
> Almost forgot! I also started helping my friend out with her band on wednesday nights, so that takes up some time too. (why do I commit to so many things, yikes @ me) if you read this far ily xx

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: This is not intended to be any sort of plug/sponsorship for the Make-A-Wish Foundation! I just thought it'd make a cute AU :)
> 
> (Feel free to also go read my one-shot collection of Supergirl College AU prompts!)


End file.
